Letter: Bridge should be symbol of inclusion

I am alarmed by the recent scapegoating of “persons with bicycles” by the Burbank City Council for the problems caused by lack of existing rules for the Mariposa Street bridge.

There are currently no operating rules or shared-use guidelines to inform anyone’s behavior on the bridge. Nearly everyone speaking recently before the City Council on this issue spoke of being frightened by other users on the bridge, including the city attorney’s account of her own recent intrepid bridge crossing experience. It is unfair and inaccurate to assign complete fault for this entire bridge morass simply to the mere visage of a bicycle, or any one specific user.

The LA River Bike Path will be extended and will become a shared-use equestrian/bike path from near the Mariposa bridge to Tunnel 6 (approximately 1 mile). It will be completed in 2016 and shared-use practices will become mandatory there.

Banning certain people from this public right-of-way is not the only solution for safety. Different communities and organizations resolve conflicts differently, some with equitable consideration of all community member’s needs.

Rather than attempt to make bikes, or persons with bikes, illegal on a public right-of-way, a responsive council would have considered the alternative of very simple shared-use rules for the bridge based on common courtesy and respect. Pedestrians with bikes would be able to use the bridge at times when there are no horses using it! It’s that simple. If there are no horses on the bridge, then there are no horses to be frightened by bikes on the bridge. This way, pedestrians with bikes cannot scare horses — it’s impossible to scare them because no horses are present. Successful shared use can be possible there, if there is the political will and leadership.

The bridge between Burbank and Griffith Park should be a community symbol of cooperation and pride for everyone in Burbank, not a community symbol of exclusion and intolerance based on hatred and fear. Let’s build a happier, healthy community through the inclusion of all — not by the selective exclusion of certain people. Support common-courtesy and respect; support the solution of shared-use rules for the Mariposa Street bridge.

Patrick Dickson

Burbank